Breaking the siege

Mainstreaming HIV/AIDS in peace building

It is now increasingly explicit that there is a strong correlation between HIV/AIDS and conflicts as the reality and severity of the scourge unfolds amongst the pastoralists’ communities in Kenya. The scourge is no longer viewed as "pandemic of the urban people" as more and more pastoralists’ men and women have succumbed to HIV/AIDS.

Speaking to pastoralists, a Maasai, Boran and Turkana Radio programme on HIV/AIDS that is implemented by ITDGPractical Action-EA seeks to break the siege of silence that characterizes the mystery behind HIV/AIDS in most of the pastoralists’ communities in Kenya.

Peace Committees in northern Kenya have found out that conflicts escalate the spread of HIV/AIDS. During conflicts, women are raped and this vice has greatly contributed to the continued unabated spread of the scourge. Other cultural practices associated with raiding, for instance body tattooing, has been cited as critical avenues for transmitting HIV amongst inhabitants of these vast and rugged countrysides. It is increasingly difficult to talk about conflicts in northern Kenya without alluding to HIV/AIDS.

A chief in Baragoi, Samburu district, said security forces particularly the army offiers deployed to contain raging cattle raids in the region contributed to the spread of the disease in Samburu. And in Turkana, whenever men go for raids and are defeated, they embark on rape orgies in a bid to drown their frustrations leading to the spread of the disease.

A conflict resolution-training workshop in Namorupus, Turkana was told that HIV/AIDS is perhaps the single most deadly and feared enemy in the whole of Karamojong cluster. "Unlike the Pokot or Merille warriors whom you can confront, HIV/AIDS will wipe the whole"adakar and yet the AK 47 won’t stop it. You can dialogue and broker peace pact with any of the dissenting tribes in the cluster but you cannot talk to HIV/AIDS", one of the trainers said. The workshop was further told that it is only change of behaviour that can save mankind from this deadly and untreatable disease.

Pastoralists regard Radio as a very powerful and trusted source of information. Easy accessibility to radio and use of local languages makes it one of the widely adored means of information dissemination if compared to the other forms of media like the Television and the print media whose coverage and readership is limited.

‘‘Women must be empowered in terms of appropriate and adequate information in order for them to make the right choices in life’’, said a chairlady of one of the women groups in the district. The society has already marginalized women and their hope is in the ability to have the right information and choices for themselves and their daughters. The Turkana District AIDS and Sexually Transmitted infections co- coordinator (DASCO), Mr. Wasike noted that there is a lot to be done in order to change people’s attitude and behavior if HIV/AIDS is to be contained. In Marsabit, a peace committee member said there is need to decentralize the voluntary counseling and testing centres (VCT) in the district in order for the community members to access these facilities.

These local language radio programmes are produced and broadcasted on KBC radio weekly. The project targets the Oromo speakers in Marsabit, Isiolo, Moyale, Tana River and Southern Ethiopia; the Karamoja speakers in Turkana and North Eastern Uganda; and lastly the Maa speakers in Samburu, Marsabit, Kajiado, Narok and Trans Mara districts with likely spillover effects in the neighbouring districts.

Elton John Foundation funds this project.